Help requests to Hertfordshire's adult care services have increased 18 per cent compared to previous years, a report revealed.

The department's third quarter performance monitor for 2024/25 was discussed at a meeting of Herts County Council's adult care, health and wellbeing committee on Thursday, February 26.

Chris Badger, the council's executive director of adult care services, told councillors that the extra pressure was also reflected in a 15 per cent increase in assessments for both service users and carers.

He said: "That is an unprecedented increase in demand for our services. It's a trend that is being seen nationally, it's important that we understand that.

"It doesn't make it any less or greater if it's happening in other places, but we need to know if the circumstances are unique, they're not. We think some of this is still a legacy of Covid, potentially a legacy of people waiting for other things in the health and social care system…

"We are having to manage that very carefully in terms of workloads for teams. It impacts clearly on the budget, and we had to make decisions in the integrated plan around the levels of demographic investment to look at what demand might do next year."

A report prepared by performance manager Alex Ogle stated: "New requests for support from Adult Care Services (ACS) in Hertfordshire are 18 per cent higher than in previous years, leading to more assessments for both adults and carers.

"Increased market capacity has allowed us to support 29 per cent more adults through enabling-style care services compared to pre-Covid levels.

"Additionally, the Adult Care Service is supporting three per cent more adults in long-term services, with four per cent more receiving these services for over 12 months, particularly in nursing, which is creating budget pressures.

"Waiting lists for initial assessments have improved, with median wait times decreasing to 14 days for adults and 12 days for carers.

"Hertfordshire shows strong performance in several key areas, particularly in quality of life and satisfaction with services. However, there are areas needing improvement, especially in reducing admissions to care homes and enhancing short-term support services, though the council still performs competitively on these measures.

"The county performs comparatively well within the Eastern region and among Shire authorities, with no indicators in the bottom quartile nationally.

"Importantly, the council ranks in the first quartile nationally in relation to the 'Social care-related quality of life' ranking 32nd nationally. In relation to the 'Carer-reported quality of life' the council also ranks in the first quartile being ranked 34th nationally."